They rounded us up like sheep, guards armed with spears on either side of the line we formed. They really didn't need to, though. None of us had the courage to run to begin with. It didn't take long for them to start marching us, barefoot, down the rocky dirt road towards what would be certain death for most of us. I was shivering, but couldn't tell whether it was from the brisk morning air or my apprehension of what was to come.
The girl next to me looked even more scared than I felt, though. I felt bad for her- just another unlucky one, like me.
It was only two hours' walk to the base of the tower. When we arrived there, the groups from other cities were already lined up, shivering and cold. I knew the drill, of course, everyone in town did. Although most of what I'd been told had probably been horribly exaggerated. Hopefully, at least.
Soon, we would be forced into the great tower. Prolong Dungeon, they called it. Not long ago, massive towers just like these sprung up all over the world. Those who reached the top were said to have gained enormous powers. Unfortunately, those over sixteen were unable to enter.
The government, seeking to gain the immense power of the tower-clearers, started to Seize thirty children of the appropriate age each year. This was decided through lottery, and I had been one of the unlucky Seized. We all were. There were a couple times when I sneered at the kids who had been taken. Horrible, I know. I guess I just thought that there was no way I'd be picked. The odds were too low, right? Wrong.
Kaila Linwood, age sixteen. My parents had tried saying I was older, but the overseers had brought a mage with them who had used some sort of spell to determine that they were not telling the truth. Here I was, now, standing with two hundred children of the human empire of Glasvain. According to the statistics that were released by the empire, it was likely that two of us would survive, but I doubted that.
I'd only ever heard of two clearers- Arthur, the saint of the sword; and Bond, the saint of the flame. Don't ask me why they were called saints. All I knew was that they were both nobility sent in with the best possible equipment and reliable guards who were still old enough to enter. Doesn't give us kids much of a chance in comparison, does it? They both served under the king now, mostly putting down rebellions caused by the yearly Seizures.
The head overseer was stepping up to his podium to give the Speech, the Empire's parting words to us before we were sent in. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by some invisible hand, and my throat felt like it was closing up. I was terrified.
The man was tall and well-built, with a handsome, cleanly shaven face. At his belt, a huge broadsword was sheathed. He looked straight ahead as he climbed the stairs to the small wooden stage.
"Greetings," he addressed us. "children of the Empire." He smiled at us. Not in a friendly way, and not in a smug way either. It just seemed like he was, well, doing what he had to do. I still couldn't help but despise him, though.
"I understand what you all must be feeling right now," he said. "Terror, intimidation, dread, maybe even hatred. However, the fact that you are here proves that there is something else deep within all of you." He paused, spreading his arms and smiling wide. "Courage. From this day on, you are all warriors. You all have the power to seize what is at the peak of Prolong. You are all serving your country in the noblest of ways. Many among you will emerge from the tower, and gain the honor and privilege of serving directly under the King."
"Your families will all be given plenty of monetary compensation, but that is nothing compared to the luxury they, and yourselves, will live in while serving His Grace. I encourage you to work hard to secure success." The man grinned once more. "I have some parting advice for you from the King himself before I send you on your way," he said, revealing a small piece of paper from inside his coat. He read its contents aloud.
"My sons and daughters, it pains me greatly to see you depart. As a way of making it up to you, I, the King of Glasvain, would like to leave you with some words of wisdom." The head overseer cleared his throat, then continued. "Your fate is now in your own hands. Go on, and serve the Empire. Do all you can to survive, and help your fellow man. As King, I swear that your sacrifices will not be in vain. Signed, King Aryn Glasvain the fourteenth."
There were a few moments of silence before the man at the podium continued. "Good luck, children. I have faith you will all return to us one day." He signaled to the guards, and they began herding us towards the doors.
I wanted to feel outraged at the speech, and at what was being done to us in the name of military power, but no matter how hard I tried, that emotion could not outweigh the overwhelming terror that writhed inside me. I knew that every step I took was a step that would bring me closer to death, but if I stepped out of line, the soldiers would definitely end it a lot quicker.
At least in the tower, I had a chance...
Not long after, I was standing at the base of the massive, blue-and-silver spire as the huge doors were being opened. It glowed faintly and seemed to give off a quiet hum, seeming to stretch endlessly upwards. Trying to see how far up it went made me dizzy, and I was a mess to begin with, so I gave it a rest.
The doors started to open, revealing a swirling, glowing energy filling up the doorway. It was mesmerizing to look at, impossibly blue. They sent the first two kids in line into the dungeon, and they obediently walked right in. Only four more rows until it was my turn.
I heard a noise from next to me. It was the girl from earlier. Tears rolled down her cheek, and she looked like she was about to have a breakdown. If she did, well... they'd probably throw her in, or just plain kill her. Never underestimate the brutality of people in power, that's what my mother always told me.
I reached over and grabbed the brown-haired girl's hand, holding it tight. I probably needed the reassurance more than she did, to be honest. Despite the fact we had barely seen each other before, she held mine back, and I felt a little better. That is, until one of the kids directly in front of us refused to go in, and the guards kicked him down then threw him in. I felt the girl next to me squeeze my hand even tighter.
Now, it was our turn. The two guards at the front stared us down, wary. They wouldn't tolerate any last-minute breaks for it. Shaking, my new friend and I climbed the stairs and stood before the portal gate. Her hand was warm in mine, despite the frigid air. It pained me to let go, but I found it in me to do so and walked with as much confidence as I could manage into the swirling blue light.
The second I entered, my vision filled with a beautiful shade of blue. All of a sudden, every nerve ending in my body was wracked with pain, and everything went black.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Welcome to Prolong Tower, Human.
You are now on Floor One. To ascend to the next floor, you must find a Gateway.
A blue box appeared in the darkness, jolting me from my sleep. What was happening? Where was I?
Right, I was in the Tower, I thought, then shuddered. The word 'tower' alone was starting to scare me, and now I was alone in the belly of the beast.
I got to my feet. I was in the center of what seemed to be a meadow. Trees surrounded the small clearing, and above me, there was only blue. It looked like I was really outside.
My hands still shook. Where should I go? I needed to find a 'Gateway'.
I scanned my surroundings. If I were a portal, where would I be?
That was when the growling started. It made me jump what had to be a foot in the air. Loud, angry-sounding growls. I whirled and backed up a few steps.
Three green-colored wolves that had to be at least four feet tall emerged from the woods, baring their teeth. Their bright yellow eyes glared at me.
My heart pounded. I started backing up further and further, as slowly as I could without making them chase after me.
"Easy there..." I said, my voice quivering.
The middle wolf tolerated about three more of my steps backward before he started to move toward me, his two companions slowly following suit.
I knew I didn't stand a chance in here, but I'd never imagined I'd die this quickly. I wanted to go home. I wanted to go back and see my parents and give them the hug I never got to give them before I left. My eyes started to tear up.
The middle wolf started to move closer and closer to me, teeth bared in an ugly grin. I was done for.
Or not.
All of a sudden, an absolutely massive, orange-and-red bird swooped down, grabbing a wolf with each of its massive talons. I watched in awe as it flew away, the two green blobs in the distance writhing in its clutches. It had just saved my life. I couldn't believe my luck.
Relief came over me for a few seconds before I realized I was still left with one wolf. Fuck. Couldn't the Empire at least supply us with some sort of... wait. My arms were at my sides, and I felt something off inside the fabric. I ran my hand along it, and it seemed to be something pointy. A weapon?
I pulled it out of the cleverly hidden seam to see that they had managed to fit a long, thin wooden spike inside the clothing. It was around a foot long, and about as wide as a pencil and wickedly sharp. My parents might have just saved my life. Second party today to do that, now that I think about it. I could kill it with this, I thought.
I could kill it with this, I thought.
Then I looked at its sleek, six-foot-long and four-foot-tall body of pure muscle, and the vicious fangs decorating its mouth as it growled at me. Nevermind, that was a stupid idea if there ever was one. I continued to back away. Nice and slow, nice and-
It dashed at me, and fuck, was it fast. I bent my knees and held the spike out in front of me, fear taking me over. I could dodge it, and then, maybe...
Just like that, it was upon me. It snapped viciously at my leg, but I had already moved out of the way.
The wolf quickly turned around and lunged at me again. I barely dodged this time. Opening, opening, just give me an opening...
Once more, it came at me. This time, I couldn't get out of the way. Pain coursed through my whole body as its huge, icy cold fangs sank into my leg. It pulled on the tender flesh of my leg, trying to rip it off.
I felt my eyes bulge and drove the spike with all of my might into its golden eye. I wasn't strong enough to drive it all the way through, but it was enough to make it release its vice-like bite on my leg. Adrenaline coursed through me, and the immense pain was pushed to the back of my mind.
I took advantage of the situation and, before I knew what I was doing, I tackled its side, knocking it down. I ripped the bloody spike from its eye and put the weight of my body on its neck, rendering it unable to bite me.
Over and over, I stabbed the wolf's green flank with the now-red wooden spike. It thrashed under me, and I was almost bucked off a couple of times, but soon it stopped moving entirely.
Congratulations!
You have defeated Lv6 Forest Wolf.
Level up! +2 distributable stat points.
Level up! +2 distributable stat points.
You have gained the composite skill [Wolf's Sprint] as a bonus for being the first to defeat this monster! Skills [Sprint] and [Sneak] have been combined.
I barely even registered the blue window that sat in my vision. I looked down at myself. I was covered in blood, from head to toe, and the wooden spike was broken in half.
My hands started to shake violently as I realized that I had killed it. Not only that, the wound on my leg was still gushing blood. I had to do something. I had to stop the bleeding. Panic flooded through me once more.
Bandage. I had to bandage my leg to stop the bleeding. Maybe find water to wash it out. No, the water here is probably not clean. Where could I find a bandage?
I could use the wolf's pelt... no. That would take too long and might infect it. Come on, my mom was a nurse. I could remember...
Right. My clothing. Screw modesty, I wasn't going to bleed out here. I tore a strip of fabric from the plain white pants I'd been given. It took me a few minutes to tightly wrap and tie it around my leg, but I got the job done.
My vision started to blur. Fuck, I'd lost too much blood. Or maybe I was in shock. Either way, if I passed out here, who knows what kind of predators would come after me? I would definitely die.
I bit my lip. I had to stay awake somehow. I needed to keep my leg propped up on something. It would make me lose less blood. Crawling on my back so as not to get dirt in the wound, I made my way ever so slowly towards the treeline.
I could feel my mind getting fainter and fainter. It started to feel almost like I was above my own body. The feeling of light-headedness was overwhelming to the point that I could barely think. All I could do was crawl. Crawl towards the trees, towards the shade and the safety it would provide.
Through all this, the blue screen still floated in my vision. I couldn't comprehend what it was saying. Level... Stats... Wolf. It had popped up when I'd killed the wolf, but why? I didn't have the luxury to dwell on that, though, as I had finally reached the treeline. Cool shade enveloped me, providing a welcome contrast to being in direct sunlight, or whatever the Tower had going on in here that made it so damn hot.
I continued crawling until I found a medium-sized log. Perfect. I braced myself for the pain, using my uninjured leg to swing the wounded one up onto it. It didn't hurt as much as I expected, but it was still painful.
I lay back, drenched in sweat and blood. I had survived. I might make it through this. If my leg healed properly, at least.
The pain in my leg was fading, very slowly. Or maybe I was just getting used to it. It took nearly two hours of laying there for me to realize how screwed I really was. I needed to find water. Food, too. I hadn't been allowed breakfast, and my mouth was dry. My stomach, too, growled louder than the wolf I'd killed.
If I wanted to live, I needed food, water, and shelter. I needed to stop bleeding, too. If I got up to find those, though, it's possible the wound would reopen. Thankfully, the feeling of light-headedness was almost completely gone, and I didn't want to have to go through that again. For now, the best thing for me to do was to stay right here and rest...
...but I couldn't ignore the hunger gnawing at my stomach. Why did I have to be so damn indecisive? Maybe the bleeding stopped. I'd have to take the bandage off to check, or at least undo it a bit. If it hadn't stopped, though, I'd have to put the bandage back on, and if taking it off reopened the wound, I'd be here for even longer than I would have if I hadn't touched it.
It was propped up, though, and had been for all this time, so maybe there wouldn't be much blood around that area in the first place. It had gone almost completely numb- or, at the very least, the pain had stopped. It had, however, been itching terribly for a while. It had taken a lot of willpower not to touch it.
I decided to take my chances. I gently undid the knot that was holding the bandage tightly in place, slowly and carefully peeling the bloody rag off my skin.
My mouth fell open. All that was left of the savage wound that the wolf's teeth had left were tenderly scarred-over bite marks. The wound was completely healed.
What was going on here?